cliff. we are hearing the president's planning to present a smaller offer. for the latest, we bring in peter alexander from the white house and mike viqueira from capitol hill. peter, let's talk about what's going on at the white house meeting. i hear senators are optimistic about a mini deal which, of course, will raise taxes on those above $400,000. expand the amt, cut some spending. what are you hearing? >> reporter: well, hearing a lot of different things right now. one of the items and ruled by rumor and then denials and frustrations, toure. we know that we saw senators mcconnell and reid arriving a short time ago. we didn't pelosi and boehner arrive yet but the vice president joe biden got here a short time ago, as well. there's other reporting from the hill right now about the potential that the president is going to return to what was basically his original outlined plan. perhaps a smaller plan but a plan where the threshold would be set closer to $250,000 as he initially had before